


Welcome to Our Home

by publishesinfontuwu



Series: To the World, Welcome to N-City [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Found Family AU, Gen, implied! KunTen, implied! NoRen, implied! RenHyuck, implied! RenMin, other members are set to arrive in the later works!, there isn't a pairing in this yet but there will be in the coming chapters, this whole series will be focused on the 4 characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:09:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27720509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/publishesinfontuwu/pseuds/publishesinfontuwu
Summary: Jungwoo thinks perhaps he has truly found a family he could call his own. This is his new found home and no one gets to take it away from him.
Series: To the World, Welcome to N-City [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027594
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Welcome to Our Home

**Author's Note:**

> Hello :) Welcome to a brand new series I've started writing since September asdfghjkl. I know, it is November already omg...  
> This is a Found Family AU with different various groups of Found Families within the NCT Family :) This work and all subsequent works are heavily influenced and inspired by NCT127's BKLYN BOYS series on YouTube, go watch that omg it's fabulous and screams Found Family :) 
> 
> The whole series will be surrounding the lives of Qian Kun, Kim Doyoung, Kim Jungwoo and Huang Renjun. Reason? They are my Ults from the respective subunits under the NCT brand~ So, enjoy this and I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fics that are on their way!

_Hey Jungwoo, you’re coming in today right? Doyoung will meet you at the train station since he is going to arrive an hour before you. I’ll send you instructions to the cafe we frequent, and he’ll text you when he reaches!_

Kim Jungwoo sits by the vintage, little, quaint cafe, at a secluded corner of the train station. He sat by the window and people-watched a little, his legs kicking anxiously underneath him. He had done a major swap middle of the term and then took a gap semester before he transferred to a university in Boston. Jungwoo was excited to kickstart his new life; and a friend of his from college, Liu Yangyang, had introduced him to Qian Kun, who offered to take him in the apartment he was staying in. It was close to his school, and it turns out that Kun himself is a Teacher Assistant in the music theory major. Jungwoo was pretty excited when Kun told him that two other guys — Huang Renjun and Kim Doyoung — lived with him.

Kun had a last-minute student consultation to attend which was why Jungwoo was waiting for Doyoung in the cafe. The cafe was midway from the station to the apartment and the food was great; the pulled pork sandwich he had ordered was warm on arrival and absolutely delicious - melted cheese and perfectly seasoned pork torn to streaks - it was an explosion of flavours in his mouth. The sandwich was an absolute pleasure and the coffee he had ordered along with it was just perfect - the coffee flavour was robust and there was a tinge of chocolate and smoked cinnamon in it.

The stare of the petite, fox-like barista behind the counter, however, was unnerving.

Jungwoo tries to ignore it as he bobs his head to the music he was listening to, waiting for his phone to light up with the notification. It was just 2.45 pm and Doyoung’s train is scheduled to only come in at around 2.58 pm. He has some time, and as much as the barista makes him feel unsettled, this cafe has a really calming ambience. Jungwoo can totally picture himself holed up in this cafe during the exam periods, trying to cram the various medical terms. He nearly jumps off the chair when the petite barista appears beside him and smiles impishly at him.

“Hi, this is going to be awkward but are you perhaps Kim Jungwoo?”

Jungwoo blinks, nodding at the statement, and watches the barista sigh in relief as his awkward expression melts into a warm smile

“I’m Renjun, Kun-ge’s current ward and also your future housemate! It’s a pleasure to meet you, are you waiting for Doyoung-hyung?”

Jungwoo gives another nod and Renjun smiles, gently resting a hand on his arm. The staff behind the counter calls for him, which Renjun rolls his eyes at, and shrugs hopelessly to Jungwoo before he slips away back to the counter. He could hear him nagging the other staff quietly, pushing him to the kitchens quickly. Renjun winks at Jungwoo from his spot behind the counter and helps himself to a cookie from the jar. He pauses at the middle of a bite and gazes at the cookie jar thoughtfully before he picks up a clean saucer and places three cookies onto it. He makes his way over with the saucer, winking at Jungwoo again, as he slides the plate to him.

“The cookies are fabulous,” Renjun says, swallowing the last bits of his cookie.

“I really should, you know, just pick up baking from Kun-ge so I can make them on my own and sell them for cheaper. It’s so frustrating how this dumbass owner doesn’t even know how to manage a cafe…”

Jungwoo nods at his rant, having worked under an incompetent boss, and finds his frustrations relatable. Renjun pulls the chair out beside him and pouts, resting his chin on his open palm and gazes out of the window.

“Honestly, it’s not that the owner actually cares what I do here anyway… hmm…” Renjun pouts heavier and then startles at the soft “ping!” from Jungwoo’s phone.

Jungwoo reads the message from Doyoung, quickly finishes the last two bites of the sandwich and downs his remaining coffee. Renjun grins at him and slides off the chair to bounce back to the counter. Jungwoo hears him calling the other staff before disappearing into the worker’s room. The two staff stand by the counter, speaking in hushed tones, as the door to the cafe swings open with a twinkle of the bell.

A slim, bunny-toothed man steps into the cafe, pushing his spectacles up on his nose as he surveys the cafe, eyes looking for someone. He spots Jungwoo and beams, hopping over to him with a bright, cheery smile.

“Hi Jungwoo! I’m Doyoung, it’s a pleasure to be meeting you here. Truly.”

Jungwoo laughs at his properness as Renjun comes out of the backroom and skips over to them, slinging an arm over Doyoung’s shoulder.

“Doyoungie-hyung, Kun-ge says he can’t cook today because of an imbecile who gatecrashed his advising hours so you’ll have to take over dinner duties today,” Renjun chirps into Doyoung’s ears as he carried his bag properly.

“Let’s go home, Jungwoo. Welcome to Boston!” they chorus, and lead Jungwoo out of the cafe, each taking hold of one bag.

Jungwoo feels like he finally found his home when he stepped into the apartment. The apartment is homely - a vase of fresh flowers sitting by the shoe rack, a hanging light shining above the doorway. Renjun and Doyoung change out of their outside shoes and into bedroom slippers, leaving one new pair in a pretty shade of olive green for Jungwoo. Jungwoo follows their action and changes into his slippers and hears them bickering on their way in, disappearing into one of the three rooms at the end of the corridor. There is a flight of stairs that leads to the bedrooms upstairs and Jungwoo trails after them. He peeks and Renjun grins, pulling him along to the little door by the secondary door that leads to the kitchen.

Renjun clears his throat and dramatically unveils what was hiding behind the wooden door. It was a dumbwaiter. Jungwoo raises an eyebrow at the machinery as Renjun pressed a button to call the lift down and Doyoung laughs as he explains why they had this. The previous owner used this whole apartment as a restaurant and it was used to deliver food to the dining service on the second floor and the rooftop. They kept the design and machine because it was useful for them. Jungwoo chuckles at how smart they were and Doyoung grins back, waiting for the dumbwaiter to let out a shrill wail, before opening the doors and pushing Jungwoo’s luggage in. They send the heavy luggage up as Renjun tugs Jungwoo back out and up the stairs to collect it.

Jungwoo chuckles again at the sheer genius idea of keeping the dumbwaiter when they retrieve his luggage from the machine. It was truly useful for them to avoid having to carry heavy items up the stairs. They show him to his room, a pretty wooden room card hangs on the door, “it’s designed by Renjun,” gushes Doyoung excitedly sounding like an overexcited parent, and they leave him to his own devices.

“We’ll be in the kitchen so come by after you’re done,” they promised and left his room.

After he has settled down in his room, both luggage lay open on the floor, Jungwoo marvels at the size of the room he was in. He had expected the rooms to be smaller than this, but this is huge and the bed itself is queen-sized. He wondered if he had stepped into a hoax because how could his rent be only at 390 dollars a month? With the level of furnishing of this house and the comfort it brings to him, Jungwoo is curious as to why his rent is so dirt cheap. It couldn’t possibly be due to him knowing Yangyang because Yangyang promised that Kun is just the ultimate parental figure in the Chinese clique of friends.

When Jungwoo finishes his dramatic thoughts and some of his packing, he creeps down to the kitchen where Doyoung and Renjun are preparing dinner. They are still bickering as Renjun chopped the carrots into shreds and Doyoung whines about it being too thin. Renjun gives him an unimpressed look at him and said in a dead-panned voice, “Hyung, you said shredded carrots… not carrot strips…” which Doyoung replies with an incoherent shriek.

Renjun bites back a smile and looks up to find Jungwoo hovering awkwardly at the door.

“Jungwoo-hyung, come in! I’m always fighting Doyoung hyung so please don’t mind that, hyung just has the cutest reaction when he gets riled up, it’s cute. L-like a bunny, yeah, hyung is a bunny.”

Doyoung scoffs at the statement, turning back to stir the stew gently.

“Ever heard of a man who got mauled by an aggressive rabbit?”

Renjun giggles as he dumps the shredded carrot on the bowl and drains the spring onions in a colander and starts on them by chopping them into short chunks.

“No, not really.”

“Would you like to try?”

Renjun raises his eyebrow at the threat and pouts, his lower lip jutting out sweetly. Jungwoo comes close, watching them intently.

“You wouldn’t want Jeno to be sad, would you?”

Doyoung hisses at him and turns the meat grilling on the cast iron pan. Jungwoo moves to wear one of the aprons hanging by the fridge and offers wordlessly to help him watch the meat. Doyoung thanks him gratefully, whipping his head to Renjun sharply.

“A little birdie told me about your alleged affair with Donghyuck.”

Renjun snorts.

“Yes, Dad. I hung out with Hyuckie at his university fair when I went to visit your informant aka Ten-hyung. Plus, it isn’t an affair if I haven’t decided WHO to date yet.”

Doyoung belts out a scandalous shriek and whips his head around. “YOU!”

Renjun shrugs, “Well, of course, poly-relationships work too, but…”

Doyoung makes another incoherent noise that sounds like _Kun will hear about this!_ as he jabs at the stew harder than before, clearly upset.

Jungwoo blinks, utterly confused by the whole exchange. Doyoung catches on to his confusion and yells for Renjun to explain his own mess. Renjun rolls his eyes at him, bringing over the bowls of chopped vegetables. He grabs the remaining meat slices to marinate and returns to the spot at the workbench.

“So, Jeno is Doyoung’s adopted son and he is my friend who has an undying crush on me. Donghyuck is a friend I met at a music festival and subsequently at an art gallery where he worked as a guide, and he is an annoying little brat who breathed signs of liking me but he flirts with everyone, including Mark Lee, so he is a wild card. And then the last admirer of mine is Jeno’s best friend, Jaehyun-hyung - the other friend of Doyoung-hyung and Kun-ge and others - adores him, called Jaemin. I’m still deciding who to date which is why Doyoung is so upset because I considered taking them all into a poly-relationship. But yeah, that’s it.”

Doyoung makes another scandalous noise, and quips.

“OBVIOUSLY JENO IS THE BEST, why are you even considering anyone else?”

Renjun sighs at him disappointedly, eyes rolling up to give him yet another eye roll.

“Because he is boring not to say at least, sure he has the cutest smile, but he is so _you_ if you get what I’m saying. He isn’t exciting at all. And, if I were to really _date_ Jeno, it’ll be like dating you… which is so weird?”

Doyoung hisses at the sentence and Renjun just _giggles_ at him again. Doyoung covers the stew with the lid and turns to Renjun, arms crossing over his chest. Renjun shakes his head at the gesture and resigns to his fate as he stops whatever he was doing to cut Doyoung short.

“Listen, I’m not playing with their feelings. I don’t even know who the heck I like, they are friends to me. Jaemin knew me since high school and when we got into junior high, I met Jeno who was his friend. Donghyuck was a complete outlier, but he just entertains and annoys me so much, I don't know, okay. I don’t know who I want to be with, I… I’m as lost as they are.”

Renjun fizzes out at the end, looking down to the chopping board. His hands clenched on the chopping, knuckles white at the force he was exerting.

“I love them all, and I don’t want to lose them to anything.”

Doyoung sighs, coming over to give Renjun a tight hug.

“I know, Injunnie. I know you’re doing your best, I’m sorry for making you feel otherwise.”

Renjun sniffs and gives him a watery smile. “I think you will like Hae- Donghyuck a lot.”

“I think not, thank you.”

Doyoung returns to the stew as the front door clicks, and a pair of heavy footsteps comes from the door, feet shuffling in telltale sounds of changing shoes. A taller, smiley man steps into the kitchen with a briefcase and his jacket hangs limply on his arm, as he sniffs the air. He catches Jungwoo’s eyes and his smile turns even brighter.

“Jungwoo, you’re here! Hello, hello. I’m Kun, Qian Kun but you…”

“Can call him Kun-ge, he likes to MC, do tricks and sing…” Renjun and Doyoung chorus in Chinese, harmonising on the last word.

Kun clicks his tongue in annoyance, swatting at them as he waves goodbye to change out of his work clothes. Jungwoo stared at Doyoung, eyes wide.

“You both speak Chinese?”

Renjun giggled, stealing the chance to reply.

“Doyoung-ge is really good in Chinese. He took it as a language minor in university, although Kun-ge helped him a lot with it. But I am Chinese but I did grow up fluent in both Chinese and Korean.”

Kun reappears in the kitchens and beams brightly at Jungwoo again, grabbing the last apron from the hook. He ties it around his waist, rolling his sleeves up, as he takes over the pan from Jungwoo. Jungwoo steps aside and hovers around Renjun, looking out for a way he could offer help to them. Kun gives them a dirty look, his smile dimming a little, and clicks his tongue at the two of them.

“Why are you guys making our new tenant cook? Terrible hosts, the both of you.”

Doyoung chuckles and poking Kun’s forehead gently, bumping his hips with him. Renjun drapes himself over Kun’s shoulder, sneaking a piece of steak with a pair of chopsticks. Kun berates him softly, but lets him sneak another piece out of the pan for Jungwoo, who takes it with a grateful smile. Jungwoo gasps at the flavour and Renjun smiles winningly. The cooking session ends quickly with the help of Kun joining the arsenal and soon the four of them are seated in the dining room. Kun pours them each a generous amount of wine as they share a toast to Jungwoo’s arrival.

Kun turns his attention to Jungwoo, swallowing the mouthful of his alcohol.

“So, the house rules are as such - you can bring friends over for projects, dinner, games whatever, just remember to leave a note by the chalkboard by the door? And we got a special snoopy magnet for you so remember to shift your status in the magnetic board - if you’re coming home for dinner, not coming home for dinner, staying out late, the usual. Don’t worry if you have a change of plans, we should have added you into a — Doyoung, please tell me you did, ah thank you — group chat and just let us know.”

Jungwoo nods and watches Renjun take another piece of steak off the plate, shoving rice down his throat as well. Kun smacks him lightly on the wrist and piles a small mound of greens on his plate. Renjun pouts but begrudgingly eats his greens and Doyoung reaches over to refill their wine glasses.

“The rent is as discussed in the agreement, just pay for the utilities and that’s all? Oh, right… Yongqin is coming up to stay for a while, there is an audition over the weekend that he is going for, I think he should be arriving on Thursday?”

Renjun gave a muffled cheer and Doyoung wrinkles his nose delicately, shooting Renjun a look of annoyance.

“Is it too late to say no?,” Doyoung whines at Kun.

Kun rolls his eyes at Doyoung’s whines, shaking his head. “I have already agreed to it, Doie… sorry? Yongqin really isn’t as bad as you think he is…. Annoying yes, but his heart is in the right place.”

Doyoung huffs a little and takes two pieces of the steak into his own plate. Kun snickers at his reaction, his eyes looking at him fondly before reaching over to scoop a spoonful of sweet potato mash onto his plate.

“You are biased, you are utterly whipped for that devil reborn,” Doyoung sniffs haughtily.

Kun raises an unamused eyebrow at the comment, sighing loudly at his oldest friend. Doyoung giggles at his reaction, looking at him while he wiggles his eyebrows a little.

“So… you and Ten huh…”

Kun sighs, biting into a steamed broccoli. “Doie, we talked about this. No, we are not dating; I don’t think we ever will.”

“The offer to seduce his roommate still stands.”

They share a knowing look and then burst out into laughter as Renjun fake gags beside them. Jungwoo is currently lost in the conversation which clearly involved an inside joke.

“Who?”

Kun widens his eyes, “Oh shit, I forgot… Yongqin or Ten is a friend of mine and Doyoung… he will be coming up to stay with us on Thursday… are you alright about that? I have completely forgotten to ask if you’re ok with it, gosh, I’m dumb.”

Jungwoo laughs at the panic Kun was giving off, shaking his head and nods. “All is fine, go ahead.”

Kun beams and the conversation of the dinner morphs to Renjun’s three crushes which earns him a soft nag from Kun. Jungwoo giggles quietly to himself and helps himself with more of the beans and sweet potato mash. This honestly feels like the best decision he had made over the past three months and he is really glad Yangyang told him about this. It’s been only three hours and Jungwoo feels like he could live here forever.

The nagging feeling of the cheap rent and excellent furnishing will be acknowledged on a later date.

****

Eight months pass and on one of their biweekly game nights, Jungwoo turns to Renjun, who was nibbling on a chip, and asks him who the landlord is because he swears he has never seen another person walk through the main door. The room falls silent and the silence is broken when Doyoung snarls as he slams a fifty dollar note into Renjun’s outstretched hand. Kun looks amused at their antics and Jungwoo looks lost again.

“I hate to say this, but I am the landlord,” Kun laughs, pointing to him.

Jungwoo blinks. “What? No way!”

Kun nods earnestly, a very Kun-like thing he does (it’s something Jungwoo realises and adores), and Jungwoo gapes at him.

“Holy shit.”

Doyoung giggles, reaching over to ruffle his unkempt hair.

“Yeah, Kun’s loaded as hell, so are most of the China line - Renjun stop grimacing, it is true - and yeah, he owns this house.”

Jungwoo just looks on in shock, as Kun nods again to affirm Doyoung’s words.

“It’s my birthday present from Chenle’s family — he’s one of our friends — on my 21st birthday.”

Jungwoo whistles and Renjun resumes his munching, cheeks puffed out. The conversation dies off when the new game starts and Jungwoo is amazed at how off-handedly they answered his questions. When he beats Renjun in KartRider again, Jungwoo beams smugly at the infuriated, petite boy who lunges at him with a cry and mock-punches him. Kun shrieks about crumbs on the carpet and Jungwoo thinks perhaps he has truly found a family he could call his own.

This is his new found home and no one gets to take it away from him.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find my [Curious Cat](https://curiouscat.qa/writesinfontuwu) here :) Be kind when you're leaving a CC!


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